Homework for Grown-ups: Everything You Learned at School and Promptly Forgot Review

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Homework for Grown-ups: Everything You Learned at School and Promptly Forgot ReviewI had anticipated that this book would be a light read, perhaps for the coffee table or bathroom book shelf, but I was quite dismayed at how poorly the author accomplished his stated goal of covering essential information, even in a shortened form. One can be terse while still being informative. However, the topics covered in this book are either laughably simply explained, useless, or many times plain wrong. In all respects, this book appears to be written to encourage an impulse buy while flipping through it in line at Barnes and Noble.
A few comments on each section follow below:
1) English Language and Literature
The coverage of basic grammar is good, although nothing earth-shattering. The impulse buyer may see some things like "commonly misspelled words" and get excited, but the list is not very long. The worst part was the review of English Literature, if one could call it a review. About a dozen classics summarized with vapid summaries that do not tell you anything about the book. For example, Pride and Prejudice is described thusly:
"Sassy woman with nightmare family meets snobby rich boy. After various intrigues everyone ends up married."
Some explanation as to the time period, style, thematic elements, or "why is this a classic" would be good in a book called "Homework for Grownups". Alas, this brief sentence is as good as it gets.
2) Mathematics
Math was extremely basic, and was more of an elementary school curriculum than anything else. As an engineer, I will forgive the simplicity as I may not be objective. However, I would have expected some more detail, especially pertaining to more advanced numbers you see daily. If I were to write this section, I would have put far more probability and statistics, and far less geometry (which seemed written just to fill space).
3) Home Economics
Conversion tables are handy, but available on the internet. There is a smattering of random info like how to tie a tie, but nothing cohesive. This chapter just seemed random.
4) History
A few more sentences on the founding fathers of this country would have elucidated just why Adams and Jefferson were rivals. Hamilton likely had the longest lasting effect on this country, and he is not even mentioned. On the Civil War, the book wrongly states slavery was illegal in the entire North, when it was not only legal in MD and DE before 1860, but still legal in 1865 as well. While I do not expect Southern apologetics, I would appreciate a more nuanced explanation than "it was about slavery". World politics of the 20th century get equally light treatment, and many paragraphs are misleading.
5) Science
How can you explain Einstein and relativity without a few stick drawings of a train and a guy throwing a ball? I thought the explanation was very weak. I have read some tremendous books for beginners on Cosmology, the Big Bang, and modern physics where these concepts are explained quite well (see Simon Singh). This book insultingly says that these concepts are too tough to explain.
6) Religious Education
After specifically saying that Jewish and Christian tradition divide up the 10 Commandments differently, the book proceeds to print the Christian 10 commandments and label them as the Jewish version. Such a basic mistake makes it seem like the entire book might have been pasted from Wikipedia.
8) Classics and 9) Art
Very light, not much to comment on here. Once again, there are many other great beginner books.
My summary is 2 stars. I would not recommend you purchase this book. There are plenty of other books that cover basic knowledge in each of these subjects that are far superior. I don't see a place for this book in most homes.
Homework for Grown-ups: Everything You Learned at School and Promptly Forgot Overview

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